I am going to be spending some time with family this weekend and I think my kids, my mom and I are going to try our hand at making a creative dessert for dinner one night. I am not much of a cook(dh does the cooking in our house since he is so awesome at it) but I LOVE making desserts! My oldest daughter is starting to show her creativity in art, so what better way to practice than on a fun dessert concoction. Betty Crocker has a website to get us started on some ideas for our clever cooking challenge. Head over to BakeSweetMemories and check out some of the cool cakes and treats they have made. (I personally like the bunny and chick cookies since that is one recipe my un-artistic self probably can't mess up!)Well, to help with our cooking challenge Betty Crocker and Safeway have teamed up with MyBlogSpark to offer me the above pictured gift basket AND they are offering an identical one(without the cake mix, sorry) to one of my lucky readers.
They are offering a silicone baking dish, a Betty Crocker spoon(I got one of these from the BC kitchens and I LOVE IT!!!!!), a red oven mitt and a stainless steel mixing bowl AND a $25 gift card to Safeway stores (you can buy lots of cake mix with THAT -especially right now at Safeway as they are on sale for .69 each when you buy 4 :)
I will have this giveaway open until April 8th at midnight. Then comments will be closed and a winner will be selected via random.org. I will post the winner's name to my blog on April 9th and then that winner will have 48 hours to contact me or a new winner will be chosen.
One entry per person
Tell me your best baking memory or something funny that happened while baking/cooking.
Disclaimer: Betty Crocker, Safeway and MyBlogSpark provided me the same gift basket mentioned above as well as a VIP coupon for a free box of cake mix. They also are providing one reader the gift basket mentioned above without the VIP coupon. I was not compensated in any other way for this post and all words and opinions in this post are my own.
66 comments:
Ok I dont think this was funny at the time, but thinking back on it, yep funny but grose. My stepmom had cooked lasagna and we were all eating when my dad went in for seconds. At that point he noticed something in it, it was half of a roach (Yuck). The first thing we thought is where is the other half? Nowhere to be found. So my stepmom will never live that down. We tease her all the time.
when I was prob 5 I was sitting on the counter helping my mom bake a cake. She had pulled the trash can over for egg shells and such. Somehow I fell off the counter head first into the trash can. Yuck and funny all at the same time :o)couponcrazytxgirl@sbcglobal.net
When I was about 4 my grandmother says that she had just finished baking homemade cookies and left the room for a bit. When she came back, she found me crumbling up each and every cookie that she had just made. She scolded me for ruining all her cookies and I ran off. A few minutes later she came looking for me to apolagize and found me in a corner of my room singing in a pitiful voice, "nobody likes me; everybody hates me. I guess I'll go eat worms."
My favorite baking memories are cooking with my kiddos. They love to help with the measuring, mixing and scooping anytime we bake anything! :)
I remember baking with my Grandmother growning up. We always made homemade donuts, and fried pies. Also chocolate chip cookies. Such great memories!
This past Christmas my 2 and 4 year old made christmas cookies using the Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix and adding the extra flour to do cut cookies. My son was having so much fun and then decorating them afterwards. This will be a great christmas tradition.
I was making some monkey bread and somehow my ring slipped off and stuck to the dough. I didn't notice it. I baked it and then my hubby took a bite out and then he found the ring! lol
I love to bake with my kids and I grew up loving to bake with my mom. This Christmas I did cut out cookies, which get done most years, but often they are left uniced because everyone is too tired to do that. This year I made just enough I thought I could tackle getting iced. I had them all on the counter and my two little ones came in and asked to help. I thought they were too young to get the icing on decent, but they did an awesome job and before I knew it they were all done. I love being able to pass on these fun traditions to my kids and the same memories I developed.
I always feel the need for speed. I had just received my Kitchenaid mixer (and the Angel's sing) so we needed to make a big cake! Well, apparently you're not supposed to pull the lever all the way to high before you get the wet mix going. The kitchen was COVERED in chocolate cake dust because I couldn't contain the need to blast the mixer at full speed.
When my 12 year-old daughter was just 2, I found her sitting on the kitchen counter with a pair of scissors and an open box of cake mix. She had used the drawer pulls from the drawers beneath the cabinet as a ladder, climbed up on the counter, opened the upper cabinet doors, and treated herself to dry cake mix. I still don't know how she accomplished the climb with a pair of scissors in her hands!
Teresa Randall teresarandallATclearwiredotnet
My favorite baking memories all revolve around teaching my stepkids to decorate birthday cakes. When I met Hubby, the kids were 7, 8, and 10, and I could not believe they had never been allowed to "play" with cakes. After the first one, they were hooked and always wanted to decorate cakes for any celebration. All 3 worked together really well and they were quite created.
My favorite memory is baking homemade chocolate chip cookies with my grandmother. Mmmmm, I can almost taste them!!
My fondest memory is on the Saturday my Mom took all the grandkids for cookie baking while the parents went Christmas shopping. We got to sample some interesting treats thru the years!
My best baking memories have always been learning things from my grandmother. I miss that! A funny moment happens often when I am baking with my 4 year old son. We have had many moments where he turns the blender on w/o a lid or puts my Kitchen-Aid mixer on high!
My favorite memory was when I decided to become a vegetarian at the age of 13. My family was not happy about it, so to convince them I made a vegetarian soup for dinner, which they all loved! I remember feeling so incredibly proud of myself. It is a very nostalgic memory for me.
i learned to cook and bake as a kid. my mom was a wonderful cook and i was in 4-H. one of my specialties was blueberry muffins. i demostrated making them in 4-H. at state they took a picture of me during my presentation. later the picture showed up in one of the state's 4-H booklets.
we would make cookies for my dad to take to work. one day we made cookies, they looked perfectly golden. cut into them to find out that the inside was dough. we had cooked them on pre-heat and not bake. Turned ot we all liked the gooy insides better. So next time we purposely baked the cookies on pre-heat.
My best baking memory is the summer before eighth grade. My grandmother was trying to teach me to cook. We baked something different almost every day! Boy, did we make messes! However, it was fun and I'm really glad we did it. She passed away on the first day of eighth grade and I've always looked at that summer as best summer ever because of the baking with grandma.
Friends and I were making a cake and couldn't find all the ingredients we needed. So we found her parents alcohol stash and just poured some of that in, I can't even remember what we used b/c it was a very long time ago.
The cake didn't come out looking too good, it was lopsided and we just left it on the counter to cool. the next morning her dad was telling us how good it was and he had eaten most of it already :) I am not sure that we ever told him.
I bake something from scratch at least once a week with my toddler, I love to bake and he loves licking the spoons and mixer.
Making sugar cookies with the kids for holidays!
sbphair@hotmail.com
A few months after I met my (now) husband, I baked him a birthday cake. I couldn't bake then and I still can't really. Anyway, I made a cake and set it on the table. When we came back awhile later to serve it, there were ants on it -- and the ants had crawled up to the top of the candles. Even they didn't like my cake, I guess.
digicat{AT}sbcglobal{DOT}net
At the age of 10 I baked for the first time by myself. Of course I used a mix..lol. I made ginger bread. I took it to my 5th grade class to share with everyone and was told this by a boy in my class, "You know Brandi, one day you are going to make a good wife."
I have fond memories of my first time making raised donuts... visiting my future mother in law for the first time.
We had a good time, I learned a lot and my donuts came out great.
As a teen, the first time I ever tried to make a cake from "scratch" I mixed up baking soda and baking powder - and the cake turned out horrible. My dad commented that it was so bad that a dog wouldn't eat it ... and he was right! Our dog had knocked over the garbage the next day and right on top was the cake - untouched! I have stuck to Betty Crocker ever since then!
My best baking memory is baking with grandma when we were about five, me and my sisters learned how to make cupcakes, rainbow cookies...
tcarolinep at gmail dot com
I love all of the memories that I have growing up baking with my mom!
Last year was the first year we baked cookies for Santa Claus with my 2yr old. And all year long he thought if we baked cookies, then Santa would have presents for him the next morning. LOL :)
My sister and I made spritz cookies one time together at Christmas--It was fun.
karin56381 (at) gmail.com
My husband and I just got married a few months ago, and I called him to see if he could start boiling some water to make spaghetti after a long hard day at work. I forgot that we didn't actually own pots yet, so to substitute for a pot, he used a pyrex baking dish. When I got home, he came running out to my car only to tell me that the pyrex dish, once placed on the stove, didn't just crack...it had exploded. I walked in the kitchen and couldn't believe he made it out alive. There were little peices of glass EVERYWHERE!! It definitely makes for a funny story now.
I need all the utensils and help I can get in the kitchen:)
My best baking memory was the first time I baked a pie. I was only about 12 and I never realized how much work it took to bake a pie! I think I did a pretty good job though, I was told it was pretty tasty :)
I was baking Peanut Butter cookies for school when I was about 14. I ran out of oatmeal and went next door to borrow some. I had a crush on the 14 yo boy that lived there. I had brought my own measuring cup and noticed a speck at the bottom of the pyrex cup. I blew in the cup, the speck went in my eye, and I dropped the cup, just as the boy opened the door. I was so mortified for being such a klutz, I jumped down and scooped up the broken pieces, cut myself horribly, and started bleeding everywhere. I was totally humiliated. LOL. Never have baked homemade peanut butter cookies since.
We had to make chocolate covered strawberry's for a cheer leading banquet and some one... dipped theirs in unsweetened baking chocolate. needless to say there were a bunch of half bitten berries left on the tray.. no one took credit for making those!
Baking cookies with my Grandma every X-mas is one of my best memories of her...We could make fancy ones with cookie cutters and the round ones that you smash down with a fork before baking. I always got to do the fork part!
Flour fights with my mom and cousin while baking chocolate cookies and eating the dough.
I was baking a cake a couple of months ago. I then got busy with my toddler so i asked my husband to stick a fork in it to see if it was done. He "touched" the tip of the fork on the cake and decided that the cake was done. I asked him to take it out and let it cool on the counter before I carried it to a friend's for tea. You know the rest...
I was baking one day and the bag of flour slipped outta my hands. My mini dachshund was standing right under me. When I looked down all I saw was a blob of white and two big brown eyes looking up..he was covered in flour.
Making pizza dough with my O'ma is a favorite baking memory of mine. She didn't care if the floor was on the floor or cabinets! And the best part is that she continued the tradition by making pizza dough with my boys and my niece and nephew.
Well I have had some all out baking disasters (banana cream pies are out to get me)...but generally even the bad things are edible - LOL! I think the latest was that I added all the wet/dry ingredients at the same time instead of separating them out. Oh well the big pile of mush baked just fine!! Thanks for the giveaway!
When we were probably about 6 and 8, my brother and I got ahold of a kids cookbook while my mom was taking care of my baby sister who was sick. We decided to surprise her by making something out of the book. I don't even remember but we were making, but I remember that we didn't have all of the ingredients and so we were substituting things like pickles for grapes (hey - they're both green, right?) My mom tried hard to keep a straight face and was a good sport about the whole thing.
I was making 'chocolate coconut shells' to pour smoothies in, and i would dip balloons into melted chocolate and let it set. the chocolate (warm) burst the balloons and chocolate went ALL OVER me and my kitchen.
Something funny that happened while cooking with my son was trying to make fried ice cream! I had the oil too hot and the pan with the oil was too small... you can imagine what happened next! :-) Now we get the fried ice cream for dessert at our favorite Mexican restaurant.
baking at a resturaunt i used to work at, i baked early in the morning before the other employers got there....one morning my boss got there and scared me so much i threw flour at him in automatic response! too funny watching him walk around all day with a "white dusted" shirt! :)
One of my funny memories is of my daughter with chocolate all over her face and a big mouth full of cookie with a spoon full of dough in her hand.
My fondest memory was baking with my mom every christmas. We would make dozens & dozens of cookies & put them in tins as gifts.
My mom and her sisters are amazing cooks! No matter what they're making, my sister and I can be found at their heels. From standing on the step stool to sitting on the counter, I was always right there. The only part better than what they had made, was licking the spoon, beaters, AND bowl!!! How can something uncooked (with raw eggs, no less) taste sooooo good!
When we first moved to Chicago (2002), our stove probably dated back to 1950. I had to light it myself, etc. Well, I bought a really cheap turkey and I'm not sure I had ever cooked one before. I think the temperature gauge was not working properly...hit by the turkey? So, we stayed up all night trying to finish cooking it. When we were all done, the turkey was very dry and we ended up throwing the whole thing away. Now, I always cook in a modern oven and I only buy Butterball.
Well, apparently I am not the world's best baker. I had heard that you could substitue applesauce for vegetable oil in recipes to make them a bit "healthier". so I tried it with a box of pinapple upside down cake. Not so good. it looked great on the outside, but was still liquid in the middle! I guess I missed the liquidy part when I inserted the toothpick :) And my in-laws were here...I had to tell them to eat around the middle!
My funniest baking memory is when my mom and I would bake cookies and cakes and I would always ask for the bowl. I didn't even prefer the finished product, it was something about that dough that I had to have :)
My favorite baking memory was making chocolate chip cookies with my friends for a project for school.
mami2jcn at gmail dot com
I was making Zucchini bread to put in the oven right after dinner was done since the oven was hot. It tasted different than usual but it was still good-we thought. The next morning I took out the milk & there was a big bowl of shredded zucchini. Now the kids always tease me about the non-zucchini bread. Thanks
mrspoofa@aol.com
My best baking time is anytime I get to do it with my kids. :)
Every year at Christmas time, my 5 sisters, mother and all the nieces and nephews, come together for "Bake Day". This best part about bake day is that you go home with freshly baked cookies and goodies, but also take home already prepared cookie dough to bake during the holidays.
My favorite memory would have to be on my younger sister's birthday a few years back, when she was heating up some birthday cake in the microwave. She didn't realize the decorations on the paper plate had foil on them (I'm not sure why they would even be able to sell those), but next thing you know we had fireworks in the microwave. It still makes me laugh thinking of how she totally freaked out and ran out of the house just because of a little pop and spark =).
When I was a teenager, my sister and I lived with my mom in this tiny little apartment. We didn't have very much money but we were all craving something sweet and we decided to rummage through the cupboards and see what we could find to make. My mom had heard something about a dessert called dump cake, where you just add a hodgepodge of ingredients and it's supposed to come out tasting yummy. Well, needless to say, it did not turn out right and it tasted mostly like flour. I think we needed some vanilla extract or something. Anyway, that's a funny memory that I have of growing up.
My favorite baking memory was that every time I visited my grandma we would bake blueberry muffins!
I remember baking a cake for my dad when I was 8 with my mom...she asked me to add 2 eggs, which I did...shells and all!
Thanks,
Maya
bayloop@comcast.net
My best memory so far as a mom is baking cookies with my oldest. She had a blast making cookies and getting flour all over herself! It was so much fun! Can't wait until my youngest is old enough to join us!
marta
My fondest baking memories are of making cakes with Grandma every Sunday.
The best memories for me is baking with my kids. Just spending that time with makes it worth the hours it takes to make a batch of cookies.
Ana
There was this one time when we were making a cake from scratch from dates. The recipe asked for 1/1/2 cup of sugar. Since our sugar & salt containers are in similar jars, we put salt in by mistake. It was the most awful cake that we had ever tasted. Now, I double-check to make sure I am using the correct ingredient:)
Lots of funny things happen in the kitchen with kids, the picture of my 2 year old in a black apron COVERED in flour "takes the cake" if you pardon the bun er..pun!
Wow! The first Christmas being married to my husband, I was asked by his grandpa to help make the traditional "egg nog"....trying to make a good impresstion i jumped right in! We fininshed up the nog and set it on the counter and were both proud of our accomplishment UNTIL we saw the look on the faces of the takers...turns out the green jar on the stove wasnt sugar, it was SALT! I still help with the egg nog BUT we both agree to push the SALT aside and laugh every year! Maybe not a good first impression but an impression never the less!
Ah my mom took frugality a bit too far one night . She had some leftover pancake batter and didn't want to throw it out. We were having fried chicken for dinner and she got the bright idea to batter the chicken with the pancake batter. Nasty! I told her I didn't know whether to dip it in ketchup or syrup! Never a dull moment with my mom in the kitchen!
I love baking pound cake with mom and hearing family stories while it bakes.
My best cooking memory is that I showed my daughter how to bake cookies for the first time. She was about 3-year-old. She enjoyed helping me out and ate a lot of cookies that we made together.
thanks katy for the giveaway.
ca94102@yahoo.com
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